"According to the indictment, two of the professors began to apply for patents on some of the technology in the United States, beginning in 2010." It would see

"According to the indictment, two of the professors began to apply for patents on some of the technology in the United States, beginning in 2010." It would seem difficult to steal and simultaneously patent an idea in the US. Am I misunderstanding the title or the article? Is the crime that they invented a patentable concept and then they tried to then take it back to another country that happens to have some tension with the US?